07/31/2013

Konwinski's issue in mayoral politics is productivity

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http://toledoblade.typepad.com/bladeslices/2013/07/mark-your-calendars-for-weekly-political-party.html#sthash.vOlx2TJ1.dpuf

Tuesday night was Michael Konwinski’s turn as the featured
mayoral candidate at the Ottawa Tavern downtown.

A larger than normal crowd (high 20s) was probably due to the
fact that the candidate was supposed to be Mayor Mike Bell but he switched with
Konwinski. The reason for the mayor’s absence is believed to be his involvement
in an economic development mission to Wisconsin (cheese, anyone?)

Konwinski focused on the work productivity of city hall. He
blamed lazy managers for a culture in which whether an employee works hard is
largely up to that employee.

“People are not held accountable. People are not forced to
do their jobs,” he said.

He said the errors that were made in the Neighborhoods
Department were unfairly blamed on just the two people who were let go.

“I call it blaming the dead guy.”

“Nobody gets fired. You just get moved to another division.”

"The problem is managers don't want to do the work," he said.

Konwinski, 57, is a recently retired city employee with a
specialty in finance and accounting - and a penchant for pithy comments. He worked for Toledo from 1982 until the
end of last year.

His most recent assignment was helping to implement the SAP
software system in the finance office. He has also overseen accounting in water
distribution and environmental services.

Like Alan Cox – an independent candidate who still works for
the city – Konwinski’s major issue is the management of city government itself.
It’s a topic you don’t really hear from the leading candidates – Bell, Anita
Lopez, Joe McNamara, or D. Michael Collins.

It’s something these two guys know about and they’re trying
to bring to our attention.

Outside of managing city departments better, Mr. Konwinski
is pretty libertarian. He’d lower the renewable (after nearly 30 years we should stop calling it an “emergency” or “temporary”) income tax of
0.75% to 0.5% for a total city tax of 2%.

By my bar-napkin math that’s a reduction in city revenue of
about $18 million a year, and he was not specific about what $18 million worth
of services the city could live without. Some of those savings would be in
getting rid of excess administrators.

“Is the Fire Department a little top-heavy with battalion
commanders?”

And he'd continue to have it voted on because that encourages “more cautious spending.”

He supports a “right to work” law, only because one should
be allowed to opt out of the union if one wants to. But he also said:

“If you have enlightened management – like mine, unions play
a lesser role. In an unenlightened administration, like Carty’s, unions are a
necessity.”

(So, if unions are a "necessity" in "unenlightened administrations," and Toledoans apparently tend to elect "unenlightened" administrations, doesn't that mean right to work is a bad idea, by Konwinski's logic?)

Asked whether he would have released the city’s gang map to
The Blade, Konwinski said he thinks he would have, since the “consensus” seems
to be that there’s “nothing special in it.”

And he didn’t agree with Bell’s assertion that The Blade’s
high-profile reporting on gangs is bad for economic development.

“Every city has a gang problem. A city is going to be judged
on how you solve the gang problem,” he said.

He didn't offer a lot of encouragement to the bicycle riders in the audience. Asked about bike lanes and bike paths, he said, "If it didn't cost a bazillion dollars I'd do it."

Konwinski was the
third candidate to defend his campaign to the hipster crowd inside the Ottawa
Tavern in this Tuesday night series.

Next up: Opal Covey.

Republican Opal Covey - 8/6

Democrat Joe McNamara - 8/13

Libertarian Michael Konwinski - 8/20.

Democrat Anita Lopez - 8/27.

- See more at:
http://toledoblade.typepad.com/bladeslices/2013/07/mark-your-calendars-for-weekly-political-party.html#sthash.vOlx2TJ1.dpuf

Republican Opal Covey - 8/6

Democrat Joe McNamara - 8/13

Libertarian Michael Konwinski - 8/20.

Democrat Anita Lopez - 8/27.

- See more at:
http://toledoblade.typepad.com/bladeslices/2013/07/mark-your-calendars-for-weekly-political-party.html#sthash.vOlx2TJ1.dpuf